The Temple
by goji1995
Summary: Dipper and Mabel seek out an ancient supernatural temple hidden away in the jungles of Thailand in order to find a legendary treasure. However, the paranormal is never short of surprises, so what exactly lies in wait within the temple's walls?
1. Chapter 1

THE TEMPLE

In the jungles of southern Thailand, it was a seemingly ordinary day. The scorching midday sun shone down through the trees. An old man drove along the cracked, dusty road in a rusty pickup truck. At the bank of a nearby river, a crocodile lay basking with its maw open. Colourful birds sat twittering away in the branches of the trees, as a blue headed lizard scoured for insects in the shade of an old stone wall. In a clearing, a family of monkeys rested, the adults flopped out in the shade as the youngsters played together, wrestling and chasing one another. The peaceful scene was brought to an abrupt end, however, when a branch in a nearby tree snapped and a muscular twenty-six year old man came tumbling out of it, crashing hard into the ground. The monkeys scattered into the trees, making a cacophony of alarmed shrieks as they did. The man groaned, rubbing his sides.

"You okay Dipper?" a woman called concernedly from above.

"I'm fine, Mabel", he wheezed, not entirely truthfully.

Just as he was about to get to his feet, another branch snapped overhead and his twin sister came tumbling down after him with a startled yelp, landing on her brother with a dull thud. The breath was pushed out of Dipper's lungs, forcing an audible gasp out of him.

"Sorry", Mabel groaned.

"S'okay", Dipper mumbled.

Mabel rolled off of him and jumped to her feet, dusting off her khakis. She reached out and grabbed Dipper's hand, helping him to his feet.

"Thanks", he said as he dusted off his raggedy clothing and cracked his neck. "But man, I could have really done without the crash landing".

"Well, at least we're still alive", Mabel said, grinning.

"Yeah, that's something", Dipper concurred. "Though of course it would be us that a tiger makes a beeline for. It's like nature hates us sometimes".

"What can I say bro, if you go looking for danger, danger's sure to find you first", Mabel said as she went to collect their rucksacks.

"I know, but still, I can't believe it spent an hour circling the tree", Dipper said, scratching his goateed chin. "I mean what, did it think we were gonna come back down and willingly offer ourselves as its next meal?"

Mabel shrugged and chucked Dipper's bag to him. He caught it and pulled out his water bottle, taking a very long gulp from it. Then, an alarming thought occurred to him.

"Huh, you know", he said, "on hindsight, I don't think choosing the tree as our shelter was the smartest choice".

"How come?" Mabel asked before she too took a long swig of her water.

"Tigers can climb", he deadpanned.

Mabel spat out her mouthful of water, coughing as she choked on it.

"WHAT!?" she yelled.

"Yup", Dipper said, a devious grin filling his face. "Guess we just got lucky".

"I guess so", Mabel said as she nervously wiped her brow. "He must have decided we weren't worth the effort".

"I'm offended", Dipper joked. "We've both got plenty of meat, what's so unappetising about that?"

"Maybe he was intimidated by our muscles", Mabel said, flexing her bicep. "Afraid we'd sock him the jaw".

They both laughed.

"Hey, you never know", Dipper said.

"Well anyway", Mabel said as she put her disarrayed hair back into a ponytail, "are we close?"

"I think so", Dipper said.

He pulled out the dusty old map stored away in his backpack.

"Judging by this, I don't think we've got far to go", he said. "A few more miles eastward and we should be there. Which means we're gonna have to leave the roads behind".

"I'm sure we'll be okay", Mabel said. "If we get a little lost, that just adds to the adventure".

"True", Dipper said, grinning at the prospect. "Or we could end up getting heatstroke or bitten by deadly venomous snakes, but still, true".

"Quit harshing my adventure buzz, butthead", Mabel said, playfully shoving him in the ribs.

"Nope", he said as he shoved her back.

Taking one last glance around their surroundings to make sure the tiger had not returned, they set off once again, crossing over the dusty road, the last vestige of civilisation for miles, and making their way across the river before heading into the depths of the jungle once again. They made their way over three miles of terrain, keeping to the shade of the trees to avoid the glaring midday heat. They crossed hills, occasionally scaling their way up exposed rock faces. The racket of cicadas permeated the still air. At one point, they were silently watched from a nearby pool by a group of tense water buffalo.

About two thirds of the way there, they stopped for a break, sitting atop a hill overlooking a deep valley, the trees within it more tightly packed than those above.

"Well, looks like we're almost there", Dipper said. "That's the valley we're looking for".

"Man, I am so pumped for this", Mabel said enthusiastically. "After all that time we spent looking for the pieces of the altar, it's finally all gonna come together".

"Don't get your hopes up too much", Dipper said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I mean this whole thing could just be a myth, the altar might be completely unrelated to the Temple of the Sleeping Dragon, and even if the temple's real, that doesn't mean the Celestial Dagger is".

"Oh pshaw, Mr Pessimist", Mabel said, "I'm sure it'll work out. I mean come on, we've seen crazier things than this, what's so unlikely about the temple?"

"I'm just saying, keep it in mind, you don't wanna be too disappointed if we're wrong", Dipper said.

"You said the same thing about the Mongolian death worms".

Dipper shuddered.

"I wish we HAD been wrong about the Mongolian death worms", he said. "If that one worm's aim had been just a little better, my leg would have been melted off by acid spit. Not an experience I wanna repeat".

"Good times", Mabel said, giggling.

She pulled out a couple small bags of dried fruit.

"Want some?" she said

"Sure".

Dipper took one of the bags, and the two of them sat in silence for a little while, eating their snacks and taking a few glugs of water. Afterwards, Mabel lay flat on her back against the dry terrain, staring up at the cloudless sky.

"Oh man, just imagine what the night sky would look like out here", she said.

"Yeah, that is a cool thought", Dipper said, looking up with her. "No light pollution out here, so it'd definitely look pretty impressive. Buuut, I don't think it'd be the best idea to be out in the jungle in the middle of the night".

"Probably not, but then, we're the dumbasses that ran TOWARDS a cursed sentient tornado, our ideas are never really the smartest".

They both laughed.

"Yeah, I guess not", Dipper said. "But wow, when you think about it, either we're really good at evading death, or we just get lucky".

"Probably a mix of the two", Mabel said.

A short while later, the two of them got to their feet once again and headed down into the valley, making their way down the steep hillside. More than once they slipped on the muddy slope, but the other would catch them before they fell. Finally reaching the bottom, they found themselves in a temperate basin, several small streams and ponds scattered throughout. A light steam permeated the air, and down here, the only sound was the trickling of the streams. Sunbeams filtered through the canopy, adding to the dreamlike quality of the place, and the twins took a good minute or so to simply admire the beauty of the valley.

"Wow", Mabel whispered. "Bro, this is beautiful".

Dipper nodded in agreement. One of the greatest pleasures of traveling was definitely to stumble upon places such as this. They began to walk through the valley, their quiet footsteps one of the few sounds to be heard in the near silence. Occasionally a peaceful bird cry would drift down from the trees. Once or twice, they saw a deep pool with groups of small, brightly coloured fish swimming within them. As they passed along a low rock edge, they briefly stopped to admire a passing snake with a red head and tail and a deep blue body, its scales shining in the sunlight. Finally, they came across yet another slope, heading into a short rock tunnel.

"This is it", Dipper said excitedly. "I think we're nearly at the right place".

"Looks that way", Mabel said, practically bouncing up and down on the spot. "Ooohhh, finally, I'm so hyped for this".

"Me too", Dipper said, forgetting his desire to not get his hopes up in an instant. They made their way down the slope and headed into the tunnel. It was just about short enough to allow light to pass through the whole thing, and it made for a fairly impressive sight, the roof high above them, long stalactites hanging down toward them. Several sleeping bats clung to the ceiling, a pair of monkeys resting in a crevice. Finally, they emerged on the other side and were met with an impressive sight. A large clearing stretched out before them, and at the very back an enormous cliff reared up, completely smooth and almost white in colour. At the exact centre of the clearing, there stood a chest height column of stone, the altar they had been searching for.

The twins glanced at one another, the excitement practically dripping off of them. They silently, cautiously walked over to the altar. Upon arriving at it, they saw, as they had been expecting, several empty slots on its top.

"Alright, we've found the altar", Dipper said in a hushed tone. "Looks like the pieces are gonna fit too, judging by the shape of these slots".

"Well then let's do it already goofus", Mabel said.

Dipper took out a carefully wrapped package from his rucksack, and slowly, carefully unfurled it, until all of the metal pieces they had spent months tracking down and obtaining were revealed, each one of them with intricate carvings and inscriptions forged into them. Four of them were curved bars, and the fifth was a round piece. Together, the two of them slotted the bars into place at the outer rim of the circular altar. Finally, they took the round piece and placed it in the centre hole.

"Alright Temple of the Sleeping Dragon, let's see if you really exist", Dipper said.

They waited for about ten seconds, but nothing happened.

"Huh", Mabel said. "I guess the altar isn't as special as we thought".

Dipper was about to disappointedly agree, but he was cut off when the four curved bars lit up with a glowing blue light. The twins gasped and exchanged wondrous glances. Slowly, the four bars began to shift, rotating around the centre piece. As they moved, inscriptions all across the surface of the altar also lit up, a low, humming whine emanating from it. Dipper was rubbing his hands together in anticipation, Mabel rapidly tapping her legs. Finally, the centre piece lit up, and a moment later a powerful beam of blue light shot up from the altar into the air, a loud blast of noise erupting from it. Mabel and Dipper shoved their hands over their ears and hundreds of birds exploded out of the trees, flying away from the noise in a single mass. Finally, the beam settled down and the noise faded away. The twins slowly, painfully removed their hands from their ears.

"Oww", Mabel said.

"Mmhm", Dipper readily agreed. "Mabel, look!" he said as he recovered from the pain.

"Whoa", she said.

The entire altar was now glowing softly. Suddenly, it began to sink into the earth, rapidly vanishing below the ground. A few seconds later, the gigantic cliff face started to shift and move. The twins watched in astonishment as the entire cliff reformed itself into something totally different, shaped holes emerging in its surface, statues and carvings forming from it, until finally, at long last, the grandiose entrance to the temple of the sleeping dragon stood before them, looking practically brand new. Dipper and Mabel stood with their eyes bulging and their mouths agape. A moment later they recovered, and instinctively they began their age old ritual of hand slaps and finger shakes as they synchronised their traditional,

"blip, blap, bloopity bloop, twins!" and finished it by blowing the customary raspberry.

Then the two of them pulled one another into a tight hug, cheering and hollering victoriously.

"WE DID IT!" Mabel cheered.

"WE WERE RIGHT, WE WERE REALLY FUCKING RIGHT!" Dipper yelled. "HA HAAAAA, TAKE THAT WORLD!"

"We are definitely the coolest people alive right now", Mabel said, grinning as broadly as she could as the two of them calmed down.

"Definitely", Dipper said. "Oh man, just wait until Grunkle Ford hears about this, he's gonna flip!"

"Oh, he's gonna be so jelly", Mabel said, giggling at the thought. "Alright Celestial Dagger, here we come".

"Just remember, this place is probably full of dangerous magic and cursed artefacts", Dipper said.

"I know", Mabel said, "but I think we can handle it. Mystery twins?" she said, offering her curled fist.

"Mystery twins", Dipper agreed, bumping her fist with his own and smiling at her.

The two of them walked over to the entrance, Dipper inspecting every inch of it. Ancient Siamese text was inscribed all over it, multiple serpentine Asiatic dragons carved into it. Statues of mythical (or more likely not so mythical) creatures reared out from it in a gargoyle-esque fashion. The doorway was enormous, stretching up almost to the very top of the enormous entrance. They made their way inside and were met with an expansive hall. All around the walls of the ancient room were draining basins being flooded with water by the fountain mouths of dragon statues.

"It's like this place hasn't aged at all", Mabel said, taking in the remarkably undamaged state of the room.

"I guess they must have used some preservation magic on the temple", Dipper said.

At the very back of the entry hall, they found an enormous stone staircase descending down into darkness, an eerie wind blowing up from it. They each took a headlamp from their bags and slotted them into place on their foreheads, switching them on.

"Well, guess this is it sis", Dipper said apprehensively. "We need to be careful, no matter what we find down here".

Mabel nodded, about to reply, when suddenly, the entrance started to shift once again, and within a few seconds it had returned to being nothing more than an inconspicuous cliff, sealing them inside, shrouding them in total darkness apart from the beams of their headlamps.

"Aww, shit", Mabel said.

"Uhh, well, I did not think of that", Dipper muttered awkwardly. "We'll just have to find another way out".

"Yeah", Mabel said, though she had her doubts as to whether there even was another way out, and she instinctively knew Dipper felt the same.

Suddenly, the water being emitted by the dragon fountains started to glow blue, illuminating the entrance hall. The stairwell, however, remained in darkness.

"Well, no turning back now", Mabel said, regaining her confidence as she flashed Dipper a toothy grin.

"Wouldn't have it any other way", Dipper said, shooting her an identical grin of his own.

The two of them grabbed each others hands and gave one another a comforting, reassuring squeeze. Then, they began their path down the stairs, descending into the cold and the dark.

* * *

 **A/N: So, hope you enjoyed reading this. It was a lot of fun to write. Personally, I love the idea of the twins traveling the world together when they grow up, just the two of them, going off on all kinds of crazy adventures together the way they always have. Finding legendary creatures and lost ruins/treasures is bound to appeal to them. I knew I wanted the setting of this one to be Thailand, because it just feels like the perfect place to have an ancient, secret temple hidden away in the jungle. Also, both the blue headed lizard and the red headed snake I mentioned are real species native to Thailand. The lizard is Alotes Mystaceous, the Indo-Chinese forest lizard, and the snake is Calliophis Bivirgatus, the blue Malayan coral snake. I definitely recommend googling them, they're both very pretty species. Also, yes, I made a none too subtle reference to "her aim is gettin' better", because I have no shame XD. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and see you in the next chapter.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

THE TEMPLE

PART 2

The descent into darkness was a long and unsettling one. The stairwell went on and on, going deep underground. There was almost complete and utter silence apart from an eerie wind that ebbed and flowed, almost as if the temple were breathing. The walls, pristine and looking as if they were brand new, were covered in carvings of disturbing images. Images of men being torn apart by demons, being cursed, falling into pits of spikes, and being devoured by serpentine dragons.

"Wow, they really wanted to keep people out of here, huh?" Mabel said.

"Looks that way", Dipper said, a shiver going up his spine as the breath-like wind rose up again. "This is one of the most important sites in all of Thai history, after all. I mean let's just think about what the Celestial Dagger is supposedly able to do".

"I guess the whole "slicing through the fabric of reality itself" thing is a pretty big deal".

Onwards they went, their beams slicing through the thick darkness. The eerie draft grew louder the further along they went, the temperature slowly going lower.

"Just how deep is this place?" Dipper muttered to himself.

The corridor grew narrower and narrower, until eventually they were forced to walk single file. At long last, they reached the bottom of the staircase, where they were met with a circular door. It was decorated with an ancient painting depicting a battle between an army of dragons and an army of demons. At the centre of the piece, the largest dragon was depicted with its long body coiled around the largest of the demons, the monster succumbing to the dragon's efforts. The door had no way of opening it.

"Alright, what to do about you?" Dipper said to the door.

Mabel stood beside him, pondering it herself. The door gave no obvious clues as to how it opened. Dipper, meanwhile, attempted to push the door open, but it didn't give. He tried rolling it to the left and right, but still to no avail.

"Didn't think that would work", he said.

"Hey door, mind opening for us?" Mabel said.

"Certainly", the door replied in a calm, smooth voice.

It lit up a bright blue, then vanished from existence.

"Hey, it worked", Mabel said, beaming.

Dipper's eyes bulged.

"Seriously?" he said. "You just have to ask it? That's it? No puzzle or anything?"

"What can I say bro, manners will take you far", Mabel said, sniggering at Dipper's expression, which she reckoned was halfway between bafflement and rage.

"I mean _seriously?"_ Dipper muttered to himself, drawing further laughter from his sister.

The two of them entered the doorway, the door phasing back into existence behind them. For a few moments, there was nothing but yet more pitch black darkness, their beams revealing very little of the space before them, when all of a sudden, an azure light filled the entire room. The twins gasped in awe. Before them was a truly enormous room, the ceiling far above them. Around the room were yet more murals of dragons and ancient, mythical times, seemingly things lost from modern records. At the centre of the ceiling, there hung a gigantic blue crystal, bigger than a house and the source of the light filling up the room. The floor was nothing more than a gigantic metal grate, allowing them to look to the chamber below, a room flooded with water. Dragon statues in the top room pumped water through the grate into the room below, and yet more crystals submerged beneath the water revealed that the chamber was seemingly bottomless. They could see doorways leading to corridors and rooms that could never be accessed, at least not by them.

"Oh my god, Dipper, this place is beautiful", Mabel said, her eyes all but sparkling as she took the room in.

"Yeah, it… it really is", Dipper replied, taking in what was probably the greatest archaeological discovery of the century. This entire temple was a marvel.

"It's a lot less creepy than that stairwell would have lead me to believe", he said.

"Ah yes", came a new voice from thin air, causing the two of them to practically jump out of their skins, "the stairwell has turned back many a frightened explorer, not that there's a way to get back out".

"Who the heck said that!?" Mabel shrieked.

"Please don't tell me this place is haunted, too", Dipper groaned.

"Oh, I do apologise", the disembodied voice said. "I appear to have rather startled you, yes?"

"Um, somewhat", Mabel said, clutching her chest. "Who… are you exactly?"

"Oh, yes, I do appear to not have taken on any semblance of form", the voice said.

Then, a spectral image appeared in the air before them, taking on the form of a man in a robe of scarlet and gold, a plum coloured Mian-guan hat atop his head.

"I am Professor Zhao Guanlong", he said, "China's foremost scholar on all things Dragonological. Or rather, I am a representation of the professor".

"A ghost?" Dipper queried.

"No, nothing of the sort" Guanlong said. "I am simply an enchantment, an artificial intelligence as it were. The real Professor Guanlong is long dead, but I have his personality and every last drop of his knowledge, so I am as good as the real thing".

"So how can you speak English?" Mabel said. "And why is a Chinese professor in an ancient Siamese temple?"

"Well, as an enchantment, I can detect and imbibe the language of any with whom I interact, thus making my job far easier than it would otherwise be. And yes, I am indeed a Chinese professor, or my originator was, at least. I was from Guilin province originally, but I moved to Siam at about the middle of my life to study the dragons of this land before the last of them vanished. I became so ingratiated with the dragons who lived in this country that they insisted I be part of the last temple they were to build before their departure from this world".

"Okay, so, what's your job?" Dipper said.

"I am to be your humble guide, good sir. Of course, I can't help you with the trials, but I can be a friendly presence, and gift you with knowledge, provided that it's knowledge that was contained within the head of the original Guanlong, of course".

Dipper and Mabel exchanged glances.

"So, about the trials", Dipper said.

"I mean, we were kind of expecting trials, but, we don't know anything about them?" Mabel added.

"Did you not see the writings on the temple's entrance?" Guanlong queried.

"Yeah, but, you know, we can't read ancient Siamese", Dipper said.

"Oh, of course", the professor said, lightly tapping his forehead. "Well, I can tell you that to obtain the treasure of the temple, you must complete five trials of human durability. They've been magically preserved along with the rest of the temple for just such an occasion. I must warn you, they really are terribly dangerous".

"We can handle it", Mabel said. "Me and my bro's middle names are danger, or they would be if they weren't our parents' names".

"So, the two of you are experienced?"

"Very", Dipper said, perhaps just a little smugly.

"Good, good, it's very nice to see such zest. Especially considering you're the first visitors I've had in over a thousand years".

"Wait, really?" Mabel asked.

"Oh my, yes", Guanlong said. "Knowledge of this temple must have become rather obscure over the years, no?"

"That's true", Dipper said. "It was only through coming across a scroll hidden away in Cambodia that we know anything about this place at all. It's definitely not common knowledge these days".

"As I suspected", Guanlong said. "Time tends to have that effect, especially on secret places such as this, and it has always been a well-kept secret. Every time someone opens the temple, the pieces of the altar scatter across the world once again, each going to a different location. I'm assuming it must have taken you a while to find the pieces?"

"Eh, a month, maybe two", Mabel said, discreetly fist bumping Dipper.

"Oh my, really?" Guanlong said. "That's never actually happened before. I must commend you on such a triumph. But anyway, I'm off on one of my tangents. You wanted to know about the trials, correct?"

"Basically", Dipper said.

"What can you tell us?" Mabel asked hopefully.

"Not much, I'm afraid. As an enchantment, I am physically unable to tell you anything the dragons don't want you to know. The reason given to me by them is that "only the worthy may survive the trials", and that's it. Rather vague. Dragons do have a flair for the dramatic, I'm afraid. But, what I can tell you is that the trials are named thusly: trial by fire, trial by water, trial by stone, trial by heart and trial by darkness".

"Well, that doesn't tell us much", Dipper said, somewhat disappointed. "But, it gives us something at least. Thanks, I guess?"

"Your thanks are much appreciated", Guanlong said. "Now come along, onwards we must go".

With that, the professor dissolved into a white light and zipped to the back of the gigantic room into the next doorway. The twins turned to look at one another.

"Well, he seems nice", Mabel said.

"Yeah, I guess it's nice to have someone be polite to you when a place is gonna try and kill you".

The two of them made their way across the room and went into the doorway. After traveling along another corridor illuminated by yet more crystals, they came to a door with a fire symbol upon it. The white light that Guanlong had transformed into was floating before it.

"This way, this way", he called.

He entered the centre of the fire symbol, and much like the doors before it, it vanished into thin air, reappearing as soon as they entered the next room. Before them was an extensive pit, full of spikes at the bottom. Every so often, great plumes of fire rose up into the air from holes in the ground, and what the twins could only assume were fire spirits flew throughout the room. Several metal platforms levitated up and down through the air, long, dangling metal chains attached to the bottoms of them.

"Well, this is certainly cosy", Dipper said.

"I think it looks nice in here", Mabel said. "Really got that whole "fire and death" aesthetic going for it".

Guanlong rematerialized before them.

"Ah yes", he said, "welcome to the trial by fire. Like I said, the dragons always did have a flair for the dramatic. You'd think the fire would be enough, but no, they insisted upon the spikes and fire spirits".

"So, what do we have to do exactly?" Dipper asked, not seeing any door on the other side of the room.

Guanlong grimaced apologetically before pointing upwards. The twins looked up, and to their immediate horror saw that the next door was far above them.

"You've got to be kidding me", Dipper said.

"I'm afraid not, my dear boy".

Dipper groaned.

"Come on bro, we can handle this", Mabel said encouragingly.

"I know, but come on", Dipper said. "Let's just get this over with".

"Yes, probably for the best", Guanlong said. "Just to let you know, I'm rooting for you".

"Hey, thanks", Mabel said.

"The pleasure is all mine. Oh, and, good luck. You'll need it; few have managed to get past even this first trial".

He pointed down into the fire pit, and upon looking down, the two of them saw that there were many skeletons, several of them lying impaked on the spikes. Dipper couldn't help but curse the fact that shit like this was how they got their kicks. He'd really rather not end up skewered or burnt alive. Sighing, he glanced at Mabel. They each gave a brief nod to one another and leapt deftly to the first platform. The ancient metal surface almost seemed as though it would give way beneath their weight, forcing them to grab hold of one another for balance until the platform righted itself.

"You okay?" they both asked one another.

Before either could answer, however, the fire spirits burst into action, letting loose hideous, ear-splitting shrieks as they descended upon the twins. Eyes widening, they instinctively leapt to the next platform as the spirits followed in tow, coming at them from all angles. The spirits, the two of them noticed, were comprised of living cow skulls wreathed in fire. In effect, they didn't look all that intimidating compared to some things they had come across, but appearances can be deceiving, as the spirits moved faster than anything either of them had seen before, their snapping jaws barely missing them as they jumped from one platform to the next. A fire spirit got a little too close; Mabel lashed out, punching it square in the face and shattering it.

"OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!" she yelled, shaking her singed hand.

One of the monsters clamped down onto Dipper's leg, and almost instantly he felt his tendons searing from the flames. He swatted it away before stomping it into the platform.

"Son of a bitch!" he hissed as he briefly stopped to rub his burnt leg.

Just then, a great plume of fire reared out of the pit, directly beneath their platform. Dipper burst into action, grabbing Mabel and throwing both of them to the next platform, which raised itself just a little too high. He only barely managed to catch onto the edge with one arm, and with every ounce of strength he could muster, threw Mabel up onto the platform with the other.

"Wow, nice moves bro!" Mabel yelled over the roaring of another nearby plume of fire.

"Thanks", he gasped.

Then, his sweat glands betrayed him as his clammy hands caused him to lose his grip on the edge. He fell, and it was only with very quick reflexes that he was able to grab a hold of the dangling chain below it.

"DIPPER!" Mabel yelled.

"Oh shitshitshitshitshit!" he yelled as his grip continued to falter.

Mabel grabbed the edge of the platform and dropped over the side. She swung herself beneath the platform and reached her hand out. Dipper reached back out to her, but just as he did so a fire spirit swept between them, singing Mabel's hand. She hissed in pain, but reached her hand out again, just a second too late as Dipper slipped further down the chain.

"Shit!" he snapped.

"Don't worry Dipper, I'm gonna get you outta this!" Mabel said.

"Might wanna hurry that up", Dipper said, anxiously watching as fire began to flicker directly beneath them. Any second now it would rise up into a blast of flame. Mabel noticed anther platform a little lower down. She knew what needed to be done. Taking a deep breath, she waited a few seconds for it to be in the perfect position, before she swung herself, let go of the platform, grabbed Dipper, and held onto him as both of them tumbled to the lower platform, crashing into it hard, forcing an "Oof", out of both of them.

She had jumped not a second too late, she realized as the blast of fire rose up behind them.

"Thanks" Dipper wheezed.

"Don't mention it", Mabel huffed.

The two of them recovered as quickly as they could, then began their ascent upwards once again, jumping from one platform to the next. The fire spirits began their assault afresh, occasionally singing them, but for the most part they managed to dodge the creatures.

"We're getting good at this", Dipper noted, laughing as he almost fell on his back whilst avoiding a particularly aggressive spirit.

"This trial is our bitch!" Mabel yelled, laughing along with him.

Finally, they reached the top. It was still going to be an almighty jump to reach the doorway though. It looked barely within reach.

"Alright, just one more jump", Dipper said. "You ready for this?"

"Oh, I'm ready baby", Mabel said, shooting him a big grin as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"I'd hurry it up if I were you!" Guanlong called from below.

They looked downwards, and saw that the entire pit was coming to life, the entire thing flickering with flames, looking fit to burst at any moment. The twins made the leap, and they just about managed to catch a hold of the edge, dangling over the fiery oblivion beneath them. Dipper looked down and saw the gigantic fire growing ever more volatile.

"GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!" he urged.

The two of them made a desperate scramble, pulling their aching bodies up over the edge before, with a massive explosion, a single, gigantic blast of fire rose up from the pit, rearing all the way up to the ceiling. The heat was too intense to bear, the light forcing them to cover their eyes, until finally, the enormous plume died away into nothingness. The two of them flopped onto their backs, panting like their lives depended on it and drenched in sweat. Turning to look at one another, they started laughing like maniacs.

"That… was the worst!" Dipper said through his laughter.

"Fun though" Mabel wheezed.

"You okay sis?"

"Been better. A little singed. Not bad overall. You?"

"Pretty much the same. I guess… only four more trials to go… and I'm already feeling exhausted…"

"Don't worry bro-bro, we can pull this off… after a little rest".

"Agreed", he chuckled.

Guanlong drifted up to meet them at the top, applauding.

"Bravo!" he cheered. "That was a superb performance if ever I saw one".

"Thanks", Mabel said, her voice tired and slurred.

Dipper only managed to give the thumbs up before his arm flopped back down to the ground again.

"Truly, one of the best displays I've ever seen", Guanlong said. "Though, judging by your appearances, would you perhaps like to rest a little while before you take on the next trial?"

"Yes please", Mabel mumbled, her eyes drifting shut.

"Very well", he said. "I shall see you at the trial by water. And I should warn you… you'll need your strength for this next one".

With that, he turned into a white light once again and zipped off through the doorway.

 **A/N: Okay, so first off, my apologies for the ridiculously long wait on this chapters. Secondly, I was originally planning on having this be a two parter, but then when I wrote this, it seemed to fit the story better to have a few chapters, so there'll either be one or two more after this, I'm not entirely sure yet. Either way, see you in the next chapter!**


End file.
